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‘Like a war zone’: Florida man, 82, fatally shoots neighbor, 11-year-old girl

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — An 82-year-old Florida man fatally shot a neighbor and his 11-year-old daughter after a dispute over a dog, authorities said Tuesday.

Ronald Delserro had two handguns when he shot into his next-door neighbor’s home, TCPalm.com reported. The gunman killed Harper Hansman, 11, and her father, Guy Alexander Hansman, 55, according to Port St. Lucie police.

Delserro was later killed after an exchange of gunfire with police and St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputies, WPTV reported.

According to police, Harper Hansman called 911 about 12:24 p.m. Monday to report that a neighbor was shooting into her home, the television station reported.

“If you heard this call come over the radio, it would make the hair on your neck stand,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara told WPEC. “A little girl calls in saying that, you know, ‘There’s someone shooting in our house. I think my parents are dead. I think my family’s dead.‘”

According to police, the violence stemmed from a dispute over the gunman’s dog, a bull mastiff named Roxy that had bit a neighbor. Earlier Monday, Delserro and his wife, Sandra Delserro, were fined $505 by City of Port St. Lucie Animal Control for “failure to safely confine (the dog) in a fence,” TCPalm.com reported.

“They all came home from court and then the suspect armed himself and went to the victim’s house,” Mascara said at a news conference.

Harper Hansman died at an area hospital, TCPalm.com reported. Her father was shot in the garage of his home and died at the scene.

A Port St. Lucie police officer was wounded during the exchange. He was shot in the arm, and a bulletproof vest stopped a bullet to his chest, the website reported.

“We were sitting out here talking and we heard gunfire,” carpenter Louis Herrmann told WPEC. Herrmann said he was doing some work at a middle school across from the two homes when he heard gunfire.

“It was loud, it was like a war zone, I guess,” Herrmann told the television station. “Once they got here, you could hear a significant amount of gunfire. At least 20 to 30 rounds within a couple minutes.”

“There’s an anger management problem in our society,” Mascara told reporters. “People immediately want to do violence or grab a gun or assault someone. It doesn’t pay to do that. I mean there are other ways to resolve your complaints.”

“It’s mind-blowing. I don’t think things like this happen around here,” Herrmann told TCPalm.com. “I thought it was a pretty safe area.”